COVID-19 Testing

COVID-19 testing confirms or rules out the infection’s presence. It involves having a nasal or throat swab or a blood test.

Testing is important because if you know you have the virus, you can keep from spreading it to other people. While for most people, COVID-19 isn’t much different from having a cold, the disease can be life-changing — and sometimes fatal for a significant minority.

The COVID-19 virus spreads when you breathe in the tiny droplets that an infected person expels when they talk, cough, or sneeze. Contact with contaminated surfaces can also cause infection.

You can lower your chances of contracting highly contagious COVID-19 by avoiding close contact with other people, frequently washing your hands, and regularly using hand sanitizer. Having a test enables you to get any treatment you need and protect your loved ones from infection.

You should have a test if you develop symptoms of COVID-19. Common symptoms include:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

A COVID-19 cough is typically dry and persistent. You might develop all or just some of these symptoms. You can even be infected but show no symptoms (asymptomatic COVID-19). It’s good to have a test before visiting vulnerable people or attending a crowded event to ensure you don’t have the infection.

COVID-19 vaccination reduces your risk of infection. Integrative Family Medicine and Urgent Care has approval from the Genesee County Health Department to offer COVID-19 vaccinations.

Integrative Family Medicine and Urgent Care offers rapid COVID-19 testing and PCR testing. Same-day appointments are available.

Rapid testing gives you a diagnosis within 10 minutes. It involves testing secretions that are taken from your nose via a nasal swab. Rapid COVID-19 testing is useful because it gives you immediate results. However, it’s not as accurate as the more detailed PCR (polymerase chain reaction) nasal swab test.

The problem with a PCR test is that the results aren’t available within minutes, as they are with a rapid COVID-19 test. Your provider sends the PCR test swab to a lab, and the results can take 1-4 days to come back. When they receive the results, your provider calls you to give you the information.